SKI JUMPING, SUMMER GRAND PRIX. It was the next showdown in the duell of the summer and this time Poland captured the victory. Kamil Stoch, winner from Wisla, won on Sunday in Hakuba with 282.3 points. He was followed by his teammate Dawid Kubacki (278.0 points), who was already second on Saturday and established himself in the world class this summer.

"This was a competition on a high level, it was a good fight. The organization here in Hakuba was absolutely perfect", Kamil Stoch praised the hosts. "It was nice to win here, because Dawid and the Japanese were again very strong."

The best Japanese, Fumihisa Yumoto, finished third with 266.5 points. Daiki Ito from Japan, overall leader of the FIS GP, was fourth and has a lead of 150 points over Adam Malysz, who skipped the events in Japan, before the two last competitions of the summer series. So Ito has very good chances to win the overall title. According to informations of FISskijumping.com Ito will travel to Europe again two compete in the two final events in Liberec and Klingenthal.

Kubacki: "We can jump on the same level as Austrians"

"I like Hakuba. We had very good conditions. I've been to Japan before but of course this weekend was outstanding for me. I think that we can jump on the same level as the Austrian team in the upcoming winter", Kubacki said.

"I train a lot here in Hakuba. The Olympic Games took place here and being on the podium is special", told third-placed Yumoto who missed the podium Saturday because of a fall. "I always thought that I shall not fall again", he said.

Top 6 from Poland and Japan

With Shohei Tochimoto another athlete from Japan was fifth, Rafal Sliz from Poland came in sixth. So the best six jumpers came from Poland or Japan. Also all winners of this year's FIS GP are from one of these nations. Ito (3), Malysz (2) and Stoch (2) won so far.

Disappointing performances of German and Austrian B-team

Only 37 jumpers took part on Sunday because there was no national quota from Japan. But for the B-teams from Austria and Germany Japan was still not worth the trip. Evgeni Levkin from Kazakhstan was disqualified, so only six athletes could not qualify for the final, among them two Germans, Georg Spaeth and Maximilian Mechler, and with Thomas Diethart and Andreas Strolz also two Austrians. Best Austrian was Markus Eggenhofer as 26th.

Only Severin Freund can return home from the Land of the Rising Sun with self-confidence. After he was fourth on Saturday, he finished seventh on Sunday. Harri Olli was the best Finn, and landed right behind Freund. Borek Sedlak from the Czech Republic was ninth and Taku Takeuchi was the fourth Japanese in the Top 10 as tenth.

FISskijumping.com
29.08.2010 14:06

Stoch makes Poland happy

Kamil Stoch did it. A day after he lost against Adam Malysz he fought back at the Adam-Malysz-Hill and celebrated his first victory in the FIS GP.

Ahead of enthusiastic fans in Malysz' hometown Wisla, newly-wed Stoch won ahead of Daiki Ito from Japan. And the 23-year-old had a clear lead with his 261.5 points. Ito was second with 248.4 points, Norwegian Tom Hilde finished third with 244.3 points.

Malysz not to Japan - Advantage Ito

A few jumpers are in a better form at the moment than the rest of the world. Adam Malysz come in fourth in the great atmosphere in southern Poland. So the party continued for the Polish fans. With Dawid Kubacki as sixth another one of their jumpers was in the Top 10.

Thomas Morgenstern lost a better place in the second round, but the fifth place is still a good result. "Actually today was very similar to yesterday. Some small mistakes and you have no chance for a podium result. The jumps are good, but development is still necessary. I think I gained valueable experiences that shall help me making progress. The weekend was positive. The potential to be at the top is there, and I'll work on the rest until the winter", said Morgenstern.

Schlierenzauer: "Stoch was impressiv"

Gregor Schlierenzauer was eighth behind Bjoern Einar Romoeren (shared 6th) and proved his good shape. While his teammates, who also competed for the first time this summer, are having a harder time. Andreas Kofler (23rd) and Martin Koch (21st) have some more room for improvement than Wolfgang Loitzl (13th).

"I want to congratulate Kamil Stoch. The way he won today was impressive. I'm still lacking the consistency that is needed to win. The second jump was bad, you don't have to say much more about it", Schlierenzauer told.

Germany and Slovenia  not in Top 10

Once again Michael Uhrmann was best German as 15h. The best of the Slovenian team was Robert Kranjec as 12th and so they leave Wisla without a Top 10 result, just like the German team.

Adam Malyzs will not take the trip to Japan no, so Japanese Daiki Ito has good chances to win the overall FIS GP. Today's winner Kamil Stoch will travel to Japan and try to steal some points from his teammate's main rival. At the moment Malysz and Ito lead in the GP ranking with 380 points.

FISskijumping.com
21.08.2010 19:41

Polish double victory at the summer premiere in Wisla

Adam Malysz won the first FIS GP competition in Wisla in southern Poland. On the hill that carries the name of the local hero and is located in his hometown he was only 0.6 points ahead of his teammate Kamil Stoch, who was leading after the first round. Double victory for Poland ahead of 5 000 enthusiastic fans.

"It's always better when you are not leading after the first round because then you can attack. I was sure that Kamil will win, because he was jumping very well here", said Malysz. "I'm happy that I lost against Adam and not anybody else. I showed very good jumps here after the long break", Kamil Stoch told.

It was the next show of the Polish team of head coach Lukasz Kruczek. Seven Polish athletes were in the Top 16 after the first round and the young team also showed great jumps in the final to make the fans go crazy. At the end the hosts had five jumpers in the Top 11 - strong. Dawid Kubacki (5th), Stefan Hula (7th) and Krzysztof Mietus (11th) were the Polish protagonists this evening.

Malysz now also leading in the GP ranking

Malysz' main rival in the fight for the overall victory of the FIS GP, Daiki Ito from Japan, finished third. After his second victory this summer, Adam Malysz (330 points) is now leading in the overall ranking ahead of Ito (300 points). This is the standing after four of nine individual competitions. "It was very close. Adam and Kamil had great jumps. I like the hill, it was a fantastic competition", Ito said.

Tom Hilde is the only Norwegian who is able to compete with the best of the summer right now. The 22-year-old was fourth, like in Einsiedeln, and is in a good shape. Gregor Schlierenzauer was eighth in his first competition this summer.

Schlierenzauer slowest in the inrun track

Schlierenzauer tested a different position in the inrun that didn't have a positive impact on the speed. The 20-year-old was the slowest of all 50 competitors in the first round. For example, he was 1.5 km/h slower than Kalle Keituri - that's a lot. Also his Austrian teammates were at least one km/h faster.

The great duell of last season did not take place in Wisla. Schlierenzauer competed for the first time, but Simon Ammann did not take the trip to Silesia and is instead working to make up for his training deficit.

Three Germans in the final

Three Germans made it to the final round, Michael Uhrmann was their best as 16th. Andreas Wank and Pascal Bodmer scored some points as 26th and 28th.

Martin Koch was only 30th in his first appearance. But he and all the other Austrians who took part in their first competition this summer are coming right from training and so the results of Wolfgang Loitzl (14th), Andreas Kofler (32nd) and also Koch and Schlierenzauer are not in their best shape. Thomas Morgenstern showed his good form as sixth.

The Slovenian team also showed a strong performance. With Robert Kranjec (9th) and Peter Prevc (10th) they had two athletes in the Top 10. Poland is now clearly in the lead of the Nations Cup and will be hard to beat in this ranking.

FISskijumping.com
20.08.2010 22:29